


Fallout

by Jaspre_Rose



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:35:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29284650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaspre_Rose/pseuds/Jaspre_Rose
Summary: Literally just an excuse to write some naughtiness. This'll work.The fallout from that one conversation in S2,E3 "School Reunion" and the events of S2,E4 "The Girl in the Fireplace" - the Doctor is more upset that Rose ISN'T upset about his snog with Reinette, Rose is simply confused all around, and Mickey escapes with an awkward groan.From "I snogged Madame du Pompadour!" to "Maybe consider investing in soundproofing, though, so I can sleep from now on. Jesus," this one is full of sad, sweet, funny, AND naughty moments. Enjoy!xx Jaspre Rose
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 4
Kudos: 44





	1. I Wish...

The library door flung open with a bang and the Doctor lifted his chin as he met her gaze unwaveringly.

"I snogged Madame du Pompadour!"

Mickey stopped talking, his mouth hanging open, and looked up incredulously at the Doctor. Furrowing her brows, Rose could only stare at him for a minute.

"Okay," she said, confused and more than a bit jealous, too. "Good on you, mate."

His eyes briefly and minutely narrowed and his chin lifted higher.

"Have you nothing else to say about that?"

A sort of awkward-sounding groan escaping him, Mickey looked between her and the Doctor several times before standing.

"I'm gonna go...make my bed." His gaze settled on her. "You know where my room is."

The Doctor's jaw tightened just enough for her to notice and she absently nodded at Mickey. Behind the Doctor, Mickey made a face full of disbelief and shook his head on his way through the doorway.

"Well," the Doctor prompted. "What do you think about that?"

"I think... good on you, mate," she repeated, her words coming out almost as a question. "She was very pretty. Um. Doctor, that happened days ago. Why are you just now telling me? Seems like something you’d brag about sooner.”

That clearly displeased him. His face scrunching, he stepped closer and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I snogged her, Rose. Good. It was very good,” he emphasized and leaned towards her. “I enjoyed it quite a lot. So did she. I could tell."

"Alright. Good job." He continued staring at her, his brows drawn together, and she frowned. "I don't know what I'm supposed to be saying here."

"It doesn't bother you that I snogged another woman?"

"Is it...supposed to?" she asked, more confused than before. "It’s not the first time you’ve kissed someone on a trip out, is it?”

They had kissed a few times, too, but maybe he just generally didn’t do that sort of thing. She had a brief flashback to Rome and had to shake her head. Maybe that was why he’d had to set her straight when she met Sarah Jane. Maybe he just didn’t do it. Oh, she felt silly.

"No, Rose, I have," he said, irritated, and then calmed. "I was off snogging a random bird, someone I didn't even know, while you were standing around waiting for me. Does that not bother you? Does it not anger you? Any part of it?”

"I had Mickey." He looked even more annoyed by that and she chuckled, her uncertainty evident in the sound. "Why are you acting weird?"

"You're the one acting weird."

"Uh, no, I'm not. You're the one who keeps getting more and more wound up about _you_ snogging someone. It doesn't even make sense."

"Really? It really doesn't bother you?” The Doctor paused, exhaled loudly through his nose, and repeated, “ _Really_?”

Something occurred to her in the silence following his questions and she furrowed her brows.

"Is this about me shagging Mickey after the school thing? Was I supposed to ask first? You never said. I mean, I never thought to ask."

"This is about - You what?"

"Oh, you didn't know?” Her frown rivalled the one on his face. “Then what is going on with you? What's all this about?"

"Why did you shag Mickey?"

“Why does it matter?” she asked in return. “That’d be like me asking why you snogged Reinette, don’t you think?”

“I’d have answered that if you had asked.”

“It’s none of my business why you did, though.”

The Doctor pushed out a sharp breath, a nostril flaring and his top lip twitching. Blimey, he was getting really mad. It didn’t make sense. This whole thing didn’t make sense to her.

“Which means it’s also none of my business, correct?”

“As far as I know,” she said, her words coming out slowly. She looked at him in perplexity. “Doctor, what’s your issue? Talk to me.”

“I snogged another woman and you shagged your ex-boyfriend.”

“Yeah? Are you…” No, that couldn’t be right. “Are you trying to make me jealous? Are you angry about Mickey? Did you know, after all?”

“No, I didn’t know. I’d rather you had kept that to yourself, actually.”

“Are you angry? I'm sorry I didn’t think to ask. I know this is your ship, but I thought our rooms were our own. You always made it seem like mine was. You said it’d be here long after I’d gone.”

Which was a bit of a depressing thought. The Doctor collapsed onto the other end of the couch, steepled his hands in front of his mouth, and used his index fingers to pinch the bridge of his nose. After a moment, he pushed out a slow breath and looked at her.

“Why,” he stressed, “did you sleep with Mickey?”

A soft laugh of astonishment escaped her.

“Are you serious? Why do you keep asking? You’ve never pressed before. Not with Mickey or Jack.”

“You also slept with Jack.” His lip twitched upwards again and he lifted his chin up once more as he bit his bottom lip, his eyes on the ceiling. He shook his head a few seconds later and looked at her. “Why did you sleep with Jack?”

“What has gotten into you?” Rose laughed. “You’re acting weird. Really weird. You knew I used to sleep with my ex-boyfriend being a boyfriend and all and I thought you knew about Jack. He’s not very subtle, is he?”

“I never knew. How many times?”

“What?”

“How many times did you sleep with Jack?” the Doctor clarified. “And why? Why did you sleep with him?”

“Why are you asking? You’ve never asked about this sort of stuff before.”

One hand on his thigh and the other clutching the armrest, the Doctor looked down at his lap for almost a full minute and she could only stare at him. It was baffling. She legitimately had no idea what was going on in his head. Sure, until she’d met Sarah Jane, she’d thought he and her were together. Sort of. More like flirting with a relationship than anything. Maybe a bit unspoken. He’d disabused her of that belief rather abruptly, though.

“You told me you thought we were an item, Rose.” He met her gaze and arched his brows. “Are you telling me that while you thought we had a relationship together, you were also sleeping with two other men?”

“I wasn’t sleeping _with you_ and whatever I thought we had wasn’t even an actual, established thing _._ We also weren’t even together, remember?” The Doctor let out a frustrated sound and she asked bluntly, “What is wrong with you?”

The Doctor pushed out a long sigh and rolled his neck before looking at her with a forced smile.

“I suppose nothing’s wrong with me, Rose. Ignore me.”

“Something’s clearly bothering you,” Rose pushed. “Come on. Talk to me. It’s me, Rose. Talk. Whatever’s wrong, ignoring it won't help.”

“You slept with two other men when you thought we were in an ‘unestablished’ relationship. Also, again, I snogged another woman and it was fantastic.”

Well, that hurt a little bit. She gave him a look, but his expression didn’t change.

“And again, I wasn’t sleeping with _you_.”

“Yes,” he said huffily, “I'm aware of that. You needn’t point it out constantly.”

“Well, quit saying other men.” She was starting to get a little frustrated, too, now. “Makes it seem like I was also sleeping with you. Maybe stop saying another woman, too, because you’ve never snogged _me_.”

“Word choice aside, you know what I'm saying.”

“I'm sorry it bothers you so much that I slept with Mickey and Jack, but I won't apologize for actually doing it. Even if we established something right now, we weren’t together then. You made that clear.” The Doctor pressed his lips together and she gave him a grumpy look. “Why are you trying to start problems with us? Do you want me to go? Are two companions one too many for you? Is that how this goes?”

“No,” he bit out. After pulling in a deep breath and swallowing, he said in a composed voice, “No, Rose, I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay.”

Rose studied him for quite a while, all the while he refused to meet her gaze even though he had to feel her looking.

“Do you maybe want to go calm down and then come back?” she asked tentatively. “I still don’t understand what’s going on here ‘cause you won't say. You just keep harping on about who I slept with. We weren’t even talking about that when you showed up in here.”

Silently, the Doctor rubbed his hands over his face, sighed, and combed his fingers through his hair with his eyes closed.

“You’re right. I suppose it isn’t any of my business who you’ve slept with or your business who I’ve slept with.” Rose frowned. That was a bit mean of him. He knew how she felt about him. “Or snogged.” He turned his head enough to see her from the corner of his eye. “And it doesn’t bother you that I had my tongue in some other woman’s mouth?”

“Doctor,” she said, sounding as upset as she felt. “What is wrong with you? Why are you being mean?”

“I'm being mean?” He looked at her fully now and shook his head. “You just informed me you were sleeping with two _other_ men when you thought we were together.”

“But we weren’t so why do you care?” Rose asked loudly, back to being frustrated. “Is it pride? Is that what’s going on? I'm so sorry me sleeping with anybody that’s _not_ _you_ makes you feel like I cheated on you, even though we weren’t in a bloody relationship.”

The Doctor briefly clenched his fists, his knuckles white, and then relaxed with a loud sigh. He left his mouth open a moment longer, pushed out a slightly quieter breath, and then pressed his lips together. After rubbing them together a moment, he popped his lips and looked up from the couch cushion beside her.

“What happened with you and Sarah Jane?”

The question came out of nowhere and she was understandably taken aback. She was suddenly baffled once more.

“What?”

“What happened with you and Sarah Jane?” he repeated. “We were doing perfectly fine until you met her and then this happened.”

“I slept with Jack and Mickey before I met her.”

“And then slept with Mickey again afterwards. What happened with you and Sarah Jane?”

“Nothing,” she answered honestly. “She’s great. I love her and I'm pretty sure she likes me. She told me to find her if I need her one day.”

Abruptly, inexplicably, the Doctor looked at her like he'd just been slapped.

"One day?" His breathing grew a little faster and he frowned. "As in a day you're no longer traveling with me?"

"I think so, yeah. Please don't look sad. I'm not leaving you or anything."

"But she expects us to part ways someday. That much is obvious. She wouldn't have said that if she thought otherwise."

"Won't we?" Rose asked softly. "You're not gonna travel with me forever."

"Who said that? I have never said that, Rose."

"Oh, yeah? You're gonna wanna keep me around when I'm old and can't run anymore or if I decide I wanna start having a bunch of babies?"

She laughed a little to soften her teasing question, but the Doctor didn't see the humor in it. He gave her an openly miserable look and Rose scooted closer so she could hug him. She could not help herself and wouldn't have stopped even if his expression _hadn’t_ melted away her irritation and confusion. He rested his head on her shoulder and Rose ran a hand through his hair, her other hand gently wrapped around his neck.

"We can always visit uninhabited planets, ghost towns, peaceful places, stuff like that,” he murmured into her shirt. “You don't have to go. I don’t want you to go."

Closing her eyes, Rose leaned her cheek on the top of his head and continued combing his hair. His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"Suppose we can. Could get boring for you after a while."

"Boring is safe. Boring can be good."

Rose smiled sadly and momentarily cupped his head before continuing to comb through his hair.

"That's not really what we do, though, is it?"

"I can still go save the day when I need to.” He was still breathing a little heavily and he rushed to add, “Might be handy having someone in the TARDIS utilizing the computer and picking me up when things get hairy."

How had they gone from maybe sorta fighting to the Doctor trying to find any way he could to keep her around when she got too old to stay with him? What was going on with him today?

“Like I’d ever learn how to fly this thing.”

“I could teach you. You know a few things already and the TARDIS could put directions on the monitor if you needed help and I wasn’t around. I’d just need to program a few things for you. It wouldn’t be impossible. You could stay.”

“Oh, Doctor,” she whispered. “How long do you really think I can stay with you? I'm a human. I'm not a Time Lord. Things don’t quite match up there.”

“Yes, they do,” he argued vehemently. “Maybe not our lifespans, but…”

Rose hummed. “And you’re gonna wanna deal with someone who will eventually get so old, they can't even help you anymore? No, you won't.”

She felt the Doctor swallow. Frowning, she rubbed her cheek against him.

“There’s always something you could help me with. As I said, you could control the computer and transmit any information I need. You could man the TARDIS. Would be a welcome break, I think, from time to time. You could also be the voice of reason when there are peace talks somewhere and you could even bail me out if I get locked up. You could also, uh, get me out of trouble by treating me like a wayward child – but not yours, obviously – and bullying whomever into letting me go.” He paused and added, “You could continue to be my best friend.”

“Oh, yeah, all that sounds useful. Don’t know how helpful it’d be continuing to be your best friend, though.”

“It would be. More than you know. And… and if you… ever have a family,” he continued, hesitating over his words, “maybe I could enlist them to help.” He laughed uneasily. “Once you don’t want to join me on trips, I mean, of course.”

She felt a bit of moisture gathering in the outer corner of one eye and blinked it away.

“Doctor, that’s just silly.” He lifted his head to look at her and Rose smiled. “If I ever had a family, you wouldn’t want them here. They’d probably take after my mum and drive you mental.”

“She doesn’t drive me mental,” he hurriedly denied. “She’s part of you. How could she? If your family were anything like her, I’d be fine.”

Rose took in the earnest expression on his face, the dip between his brows, the slight downward tilt of his lips.

“Let’s not worry about this right now. It’s silly to get upset over something that won't happen for a really long time. We’ve got a couple of decades before I get too old and pitiful to keep up with you.”

“I want more than a couple of decades, Rose. Besides, I just proved you could still be useful well beyond the point that you’re talking. Weren’t you listening? You don’t have to be able to keep up with me physically to still be needed.”

“Doctor.”

“And who knows? Maybe I’ll be aging with you and then neither of us will be able to really exert ourselves.”

“Doctor,” Rose repeated a little softer. He was still avoiding her gaze. “You don’t age.”

He ignored her.

“We would have to take on younger people to do the dirty work for us, but I wouldn’t mind. Might be someone we meet down the road or maybe one of your children.”

“Doctor,” she tried again, smile a little bigger. He was too cute.

“And if you want children, we could always work out an arrangement. You could have someone come live onboard with you or we could find a good birthing chamber facility or – or – I don’t know. Insemination. That’s a thing.”

She was smiling widely now. So cute. He was getting way too worked up.

“Doctor.”

“You could clean or cook, even, if the technical stuff doesn’t appeal to you. I wouldn’t mind coming home to warm food or – or – or a clean work area. Areas.”

“Doctor,” she chuckled softly.

“You don’t have to choose is what I'm saying. You can stay and have that life, too. There’s room here and you’d know how to-” His voice cracked and he tried again. “You’d know how to man the TARDIS if something happened to me so you’d never be without a home or – or be stuck on a strange planet.”

“ _Doctor_ ,” she said pointedly, grinning happily now. Never be without a home indeed.

“Rose, I want you to stay. I don’t want you to think there will ever be a time-”

After a moment spent frozen, the Doctor’s eyes slipped closed and he exhaled a quiet breath through his barely parted lips. Rose went to pull back from the kiss, but he followed her and maintained the pressure a bit longer, lipping at her top lip and cradling her cheek in his palm. He let her go the second time she tried to pull away from him and looked at her in surprise, silently asking for an explanation.

“You were starting to get agitated and apparently didn’t hear me talking to you.”

“You kissed me.”

“Yeah, and it worked. You’re not freaking out anymore.”

“You kissed me,” he repeated and blinked. “Why again?”

“You were getting so agitated, you didn’t hear me saying your name over and over again. You were also tripping over some of your words and I’ve never seen you do that before.”

“So, you kissed me.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Right.” The Doctor looked away and stared at the corner of the couch for a long time. “So, will you stay?”

“You’re still on that?”

“I’ll never not be.” He met her gaze and shook his head. “I’ve already told you.”

“You did. You told me a lot.”

“And I meant it. I meant all of it. You never have to leave if you don’t want to. You can stay. I won't make you go. You can have whatever life you truly want here with me. Hopefully, I’ll be aging right along with you.”

“Doctor, you don’t age. You regenerate. You told me that right before Mickey came here. Hasn’t been long enough for me to forget, not that I will, I think.”

“Well, maybe. We can't be sure yet. Hasn’t been long enough to know.”

He smiled uncertainly and then started nibbling the corner of his bottom lip. Rose studied his anxious expression, his tensed body while she thought through everything he’d said to her. What else could she really say? There wasn’t anything on Earth that appealed to her more than a life on the TARDIS with the Doctor and she knew he’d always take her home to visit her mum and friends whenever she asked. 

“Alright,” she decided. “I’ll stay if you want me to.”

Relief seemed to crash into him like a tidal wave. Sagging backwards onto the couch, he exhaled loudly, the sound a bit shaky, and closed his eyes. He abruptly wrapped an arm around her and hugged her close, disregarding her kneeling stance and seemingly not caring that his face was nestled between her breasts.

“I want you to, Rose,” he breathed into her left breast. “I’ll start teaching you how to man the TARDIS tomorrow. Tonight. Oh, whenever. The sooner, the better.”

Rose looked down at the peaceful expression on the Doctor’s face and brushed his hair back. Sighing contentedly, he brushed his cheek against her cleavage and Rose cocked her head.

“Are you comfortable?”

“Very. Chuffed, too.” He hummed. “My best friend’s gonna stay with me forever.”

With his nose rubbing the side of her breast, she wasn’t getting the best friend vibe from him. Not by a long shot. Then again, he’d made it clear they weren’t a thing nor would they be. Well, he didn’t seem inclined to let her go, but she’d prefer to be comfortable.

“If you’re comfy, do you mind if we lay down so I can be, too?”

The Doctor tipped them to one side and Rose fell backwards onto the middle cushion. It took all of two seconds for the Doctor to resume his previous position, now using her right breast as a pillow instead of just leaning against it. Rose snickered while moving her legs to a less awkward position.

“What’s so funny?”

“Are you actually comfortable? You’re contorted up like a pretzel with… Yeah, only one leg on the floor now and it’s the one you’re laying on.”

“I'm fine.”

“Right.” Using her heels, Rose scooted until she was stretched out on the couch. The Doctor pouted at her until she held her arm out. “I don’t mind snuggling, Doctor. I just wanted us both to be comfortable. Come on.”

Another sigh escaped him as his cheek settled back onto her right breast. Rose stroked the arm he’d thrown over her waist and frowned as the minutes dragged by. What was he thinking down there?

“I might fall asleep,” he murmured. “It’s been a while since I slept and I am so very comfortable right now.”

He yawned and Rose nodded. Ah. Not thinking, just getting drowsy. Not that she could blame him. This couch was nice.

“You can sleep if you want. I don’t really have anywhere else to be.”

“Not even with Mickey? He made it a point to say you knew where his room is.”

“We hang out and talk when you’re off tinkering on something.”

The Doctor hummed. “Must be stimulating conversation.”

“Please tell me you’re not back on that.” He didn’t speak and Rose sighed. “I was feeling stupid and vulnerable. He’s still my friend and I turned to him for comfort. It just went a bit further than we expected.”

“Why were you feeling stupid and vulnerable? You never said anything to me and we’re best friends. We’re supposed to talk about everything, aren’t we? Isn’t that what best friends do?”

“Yeah, usually, but this time I… It woulda felt weird since it was about my misunderstanding. About us, I mean. That misunderstanding.”

“Ah,” he said flatly. “When you thought we were in a relationship and then assumed you were wrong because I didn’t talk about Sarah Jane despite me explaining why I never did.”

“When you told me to imagine watching someone you love wither and die and that’s why you didn’t talk about her.”

“That’s what you got out of that?”

“That was word for word. I remember. It stuck in my head.”

The Doctor hummed and shifted his head around into a new position. When he settled down, the left half of his mouth was on her breast.

“So, when I told you that you could spend the rest of your life with me,” the Doctor spoke, lips brushing her breast with every word, “how did you interpret that?”

“I'm gonna die a really, really long time before you do. It’s like comparing a gnat or a fly to a human.”

“Did you really just liken yourself to an insect?”

“Basically.”

The Doctor either just pursed his lips or kissed her breast. She was almost certain it was the first one.

“It’s not an inaccurate comparison, I suppose.”

“Mhmm.”

“Though I don’t like thinking about you as a gnat or a fly.”

“Meh. I obviously wasn’t being literal, Doctor. I'm still just Rose. Although it’d be fun having wings. Don’t you think?”

“Rose Tyler with wings.” Lips pursed again, he hummed, and his face screwed up a little. “Hard to imagine that one. What wing are we talking – insect or fairy?”

“Are fairies real?”

“Yup.”

“That’s so cool.”

“Suppose. So?”

“Fairy,” she chose after a moment’s thought. “They’d be pretty. Maybe colored in blues and greens.”

“Not pink and purple?” The Doctor chuckled. “After seeing your bedroom at your mother’s place, I would have thought that’s what you’d choose.”

“I picked that pink when I was little, okay?” Rose grinned and brushed down a lock of hair sticking up in a weird way. “I mean, I like it still, but I’d want blue and green wings.”

“I’d have gone with gold.” She saw a strange, slightly amused smile on his lips and wondered what sort of private joke he was enjoying. “Suits you better.”

“Why is that funny?”

“Hmm?”

“You clearly thought that was funny. I was curious what you were thinking.”

“It’s nothing. Just reminded me of a story about a big, bad wolf.” Those last two words scratched at something deep in her mind and it itched. She wiggled her body as if that would scratch it. “Would have looked wonderful with your hair.”

“Right.”

“I told you I'm not going to leave you behind,” he said a few minutes later. Rose stopped focusing on that itch in her mind and opened her eyes to see him looking at her left breast. “I meant that.”

“Yeah, I got that after you pretty much bullied me into staying here forever. Well, my forever.” The Doctor’s brows furrowed and his gaze lowered from her breast to her ribs. “I was teasing you, Doctor. I wouldn’t have agreed to stay if I didn’t want to.”

“Humans have such short lives.”

“Oh.” Oh, that poor man. She should have known that was why he had reacted like that. “Just means we have to pack as much fun into it as we can. Then it’s a good life regardless of how long it lasts.”

The Doctor swallowed. Frowning sympathetically, Rose wove her fingers into the hair at the back of his head and scratched his scalp. She hoped he’d take some sort of comfort or pleasure out of it. He’d seemed to enjoy her messing with his hair earlier. Eyes closing, the Doctor’s arm tightened about her waist and he tilted his head down further, his chin nearly touching his chest.

“I’ll try to fit as much…” His chest bounced with a nearly silent laugh. His expression was one of pain and Rose trailed her hand towards his neck. “You’ll have a good life. I promise you will even if it kills me.”

“Of course I will. I never doubted it. It’s already been a pretty great one, Doctor, but, uh, don’t talk about stuff killing you. One of us being sad is bad enough.”

The Doctor rubbed his temple against her nipple. Rose could only watch him. She didn’t want to mention it in case he wasn’t aware of what he was doing. It could embarrass him.

“You’re right. Your life is too short for that. You need to be happy.”

“I am happy.”

“At all times. Whatever makes you happy is yours.”

“You being happy again would make me happy.”

“I’ll get there. I'm trying to push this out of my mind and then I’ll be your happy-go-lucky Doctor again.”

“Good choice of words there.”

“Seemed fitting.”

“Well, focus on the happy stuff. You’re gonna have your best friend hanging around for the rest of her life. Underfoot all the time, forgetting where she’s left her hair ties, trying to con you into changing a diaper or two if she has babies, willing to play with your hair if you want her to.”

“I want her to.”

“Like that, do you?” He hummed and Rose lightly scratched her nails to the side of his head that wasn’t cuddled into her breast. “What else is happy stuff? Oh, the smell of brand new wiring. You like that.”

“Mm, that is nice. Smells like space. Especially right around your moon.”

“You told me that once.” He nodded and her hand slipped down to caress his sideburn. “What else?”

“Petting pretty much any domesticated baby animal.”

“Oh, that’s good. Ooh, banana creme pie. You liked that when Jack made it for you.”

“I did.”

“Bananas Foster. Banana pudding. Bananas. That banana shampoo you found. The banana lip balm that you keep stealing from me. Lollies.”

The Doctor chuckled and it sounded almost genuine, which was an improvement.

“Way to throw me a curveball, Rose.”

“Made you laugh.”

“Suppose it did. Mm. You as a mother.” She looked at him in surprise and saw one corner of his mouth curl. “You’d have no patience for any tomfoolery I would accidentally on purpose encourage in your children.”

“My lack of patience would make you happy?”

“Seeing it, yes. Perhaps. It always amuses me when you give someone what for and I feel a lack of patience with your ornery children would warrant a lot of that.”

His chuckle was completely genuine this time and she smiled.

“Well, maybe you’ll see it one day. Haven’t decided yet if I want kids or not.”

“Since you promised me your forever, they’d have access to the entire universe. They’d likely be intelligent, little things whether or not they wanted to be. Especially with me hanging around. They’d always be learning something new.”

She snickered. “Guess they would. I'm sure I’ll decide someday. Maybe when I start getting older and my joints can't handle running all day every day. Probably spend more time in the TARDIS then. Be a good time for it.”

Rose dragged her nails across his scalp to the ear lying on her. The Doctor tilted his head but kept his chin on her. She saw gooseflesh pop up on his neck.

“How long can a human reproduce?”

“Depends. Keisha’s great-aunt had her last baby in her late forties, early fifties.”

“Well, how about that? I wonder if your mother can still reproduce.”

Rose snickered. “I dare you to ask her that.”

“I will not be doing anything of the sort, Rose. I'm not stupid.”

The Doctor resumed using her as a pillow, tipped his head back into her hand, and sighed contentedly when she began massaging the back of his head.

“What do you think people will think when they see you looking like you do and running around with a woman with grey hair and wrinkles?”

“What do I care? I can see through all that and recognize people by who they are. Their age is nothing to me.”

“Really? That’s interesting.”

“Suppose,” he said dismissively. “I’ve regenerated from old age before, you know. I could age.”

“Noticeably?” He didn’t answer and she nodded. “I didn’t think so.”

“Don’t worry about that for now, Rose. I'm working on a few things.” A rumbly, grumbly sound of appreciation escaped him before he tapped his forehead. “In here.”

“Should I be worried?”

“Hopefully hopeful.” The Doctor briefly lifted his head, opened his eyes, grimaced magnificently, and shook his head. “All the words in the universe and that’s what I came up with?”

Rose grinned. “I like it. It’s very you.”

“I'm not surprised.”

Relaxing once more, the Doctor tipped his head back and butted at her hand. Amused, she resumed massaging his scalp with the pads of her fingers. She watched his eyes slowly slip shut as she let her fingers work their way to the back of his neck again.

When Rose went lower and began to knead the crook of his neck on the right side of his body, the Doctor hummed happily and twisted his upper body enough to expose his left shoulder. Her brows arched. The way he was laying, she was sure her nipple would be in his eye if he opened it up. That would be uncomfortable at the very least.

Several quiet hums seemed to rattle around in his chest while she focused on putting pressure in the muscles below her touch. She wouldn’t call them purrs, because the man would have an absolute conniption fit if he’d known what she was thinking, but they were a close equivalent.

“Want me to get the rest of your back?”

“I don’t want to move.” When she snickered a little, his head slipped into her cleavage and she struggled not to snicker again at the inappropriate thought that popped into mind. “Nope. _Now_ I don’t want to move.”

He exhaled a hot breath through his nose, warming the bare skin exposed by the cut of her shirt, and then his nose twitched. He huffed and her shirt ruffled from his breath, brushing the fabric against the very tip of his nose. His nose twitched again, he frowned, and reached up to push the collar away from his nose.

“Sure, Doctor, make yourself at home down there. Who cares if I end up hanging out one side of my shirt? So long as you're comfortable.”

One brow arched, the Doctor patted down the edge of her shirt (and most of her breast in the process) before folding his left arm up between her body and the couch and wedging his right underneath the small of her back.

“You’re not hanging out anywhere.” Upon readjusting the positioning of his head and neck, his breath warmed the skin at the edge of her bra when he continued, “I would’ve felt that.”

“Right. Are you planning on taking your little Time Lord kip or do you just want a pair of breasts in your face all day?”

An airy chuckle escaped his nose. “I mean, why can't both of those be true?”

“Doctor,” she said in surprise. His chuckle was a little louder this time. "That's a bit rude."

"You started it, Rose."

"I'm not the one that's been using my chest as a pillow this whole time."

"Mm. It's a nice pillow. Moves around a little too much, though. Be nice if it'd stop so I could actually sleep."

"Maybe it would if someone didn't have their whole mouth on it," she shot back. The Doctor merely smiled and she snorted. "You could also go use an actual pillow."

"But then you'd have to go entertain yourself elsewhere and I'm quite comfortable where I'm at."

Rose rolled her eyes. "It's not like me and Mick shag every time your back is turned."

"That isn't what I said."

"But it's what you meant. I heard it." The Doctor hummed noncommittally and she snickered. "Jealous prat."

"Thanks. That warmed my hearts, Rose. Maybe say that again sometime."

"I will."

A disgruntled huff seeped into her breast and the Doctor wiggled around a moment. When he finally stilled, Rose slipped her arms down his shoulders and rubbed along his spine, up to the nape of his neck, and back down again. When she parted her hands to knead his back, she felt him smile.

"Feels lovely. I didn't have to move, after all."

"Guess you didn't."

“It was just a bit of a snog.”

She looked at the top of his head in surprise. Where had that come from?

“What?”

“Reinette. It was just a bit of a snog.”

“Okay?”

“Was great but didn’t mean anything. Certainly wasn’t planned or anything.”

“Okay,” she repeated because what else could she say? “Glad you enjoyed it. I'm sorry she wasn’t able to come onboard like you wanted.”

He remained silent for a while and she dragged her fingertips up his side with some pressure. She wondered if he was ticklish. Now there was a thought. She’d have to ask sometime.

“Did your encounter with Mickey mean… ehm, uh, will that become a thing now?”

“Why do you keep coming back to this, Doctor?”

Rather than answer, he pursed his lips. Rose tugged his hair hard enough that he looked up at her in surprise. She gave him a pointed look, her hand still holding his hair, and his gaze skittered away from hers.

“I'm allowed to ask,” he said a touch too defensively. “You’re my friend and this is my ship. Well, we share her, that is. We live together in the same space.”

“You’re rambling and panicking again, I think. We don’t live together like that so stop getting itchy.”

“I'm not getting itchy.”

“Coulda fooled me.”

“Will you please answer my questions?”

“Do you really want to know, you nosy alien, or is this some attempt to drive me barmy?”

“I want to know.”

Rose sighed. “Of course it meant something, Doctor, but not the way you’re probably thinking. He’s my friend and we have an entire history together, but it’s not going to become a thing. Like I said earlier, I was feeling stupid and vulnerable. It just happened. Friends sometimes have one offs.”

“I see.”

“Do you or will you be coming back to this again in another twenty minutes?”

“It’s been longer than twenty minutes.”

“Yes, _that_ was the point I was trying to make. I'm glad it took.”

“…you could’ve talked to me,” he said quietly once she’d released his hair. His eyes met hers. “I would’ve listened. I would’ve understood. I might’ve been able to help you process what I told you.”

“No, I don’t think I could have.” It was her turn to look away. “Can we drop this? Not that we did anything wrong but talking about it isn’t going to change what happened.”

“It wouldn’t’ve happened if you’d just come to me to discuss everything instead of going off feeling stupid and vulnerable by yourself.”

“Look, it’s not fair you keep acting grumpy anytime it gets brought up, Doctor. That’s not fair to me and you know it’s not. So, stop.”

The Doctor shook his head but didn’t say anything. He merely wrapped his other arm around her lower back, causing her body to arch awkwardly, and hugged her close. His head back between her breasts, he rubbed his cheek against her cleavage and stared at her breast for the longest time. At some point, she let go of her renewed irritation and began rubbing his back again. He arched into her touch when she dug her thumbs into his shoulders.

“I'm sorry I upset you. It hasn’t even been one full hour since I said you need to be happy at all times and I already blew that.”

“You’re just too nosy for your own good. It’s a real problem in this body.”

“That’s not it.”

“It’s partially it.”

“Maybe a little.”

Rose’s ears pricked at the quiet sound of enjoyment, almost pleasure, the Doctor released when she found a hard knot just below the meet point between the left side of his neck and his shoulder. His head cocked to give her better access and his following naughty-sounding sigh, which was nearly more of a breathy groan, made her tummy flutter.

Eyes opening and arms tightening around her, the Doctor moved to his knees as much as he was able to, rudely made himself comfortable between her legs, and stretched his body shoulder to foot before laying down on top of her. Rose simply stared at him in astonishment as he spent perhaps an indecent amount of time finding the perfect position for his head, going so far as to use his chin to push the band of her bra and her shirt out of his way. He gave a great sigh once he finally went still and her brows arched high on her forehead. She clucked her tongue and waited to see if he would realize just how presumptuous his actions had been, but that moment didn't come. She counted off ten more seconds and then huffed loudly without getting any sort of reaction from him.

"Doctor.” She paused but he still didn’t look up. “Didn't think you had to ask before sliding between my legs?"

"Well," he drawled, "I technically didn't do that. Just made myself more comfortable, didn't I? And you were concerned about that earlier. Would’ve put a crick in my back if I’d slept with my hips cocked like that."

She blinked. Was he being serious?

“So, you decide you’re just gonna slide right on in and make yourself comfortable without a by your leave.”

The Doctor snorted. “There was no sliding right on in, Rose. The parts necessary to make that happen aren’t even close. See?” He wiggled. “That’s my torso.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“The only naughty thing going on here was my inappropriate comment. Comments? Hmm. Well, whatever. I'm not doing anything wrong.”

“Your nose is practically jammed in between my breasts. If you snore hard enough, it will become very naughty very quickly.”

“I’ll be asleep.” He shrugged. “Better hope I'm not a snorer. Wouldn’t know. Am I? I know you’ve caught me napping in here before.”

“I don’t know. You’re a light sleeper. You always wake up when the door opens. Can you even breathe?” The Doctor exhaled through his nose in response and Rose’s brows arched higher. “Are you serious?”

“Are you physically uncomfortable?”

“No.”

“Is my positioning making you feel awkward, embarrassed, uneasy, or any of a number of other things?”

“Not really.”

“Then why bother going on? I could be halfway to sleep by now.”

“I'm beginning to think you’ve been lying about wanting to sleep,” Rose said suspiciously. “We’ve been in here long enough that you could’ve napped, woken up, and maybe gone back to sleep again.”

“Perhaps not. It has been a while since I’ve slept. Honestly, I might end up sleeping a couple of hours. Furthermore, why would I lie about wanting to sleep?”

“Maybe you think if your face is in my cleavage, no one else’s can be, which is really unfair, by the way.”

“Mmm. Thought you didn’t have any plans to go back to bed with your ex-boyfriend. Was that a lie?”

“No. I'm not sure you don’t know that, though.”

“I only know what you’ve told me. You’ve told me it’s not going to become a thing so that is what I know. As you said, friends sometimes have one offs. I have accepted that as fact and have moved on. Now I only want a nap and I'm not lying about that.”

Rose eyeballed him dubiously. 

“You’ve been acting weird. It started cute, you wanting to snuggle a little, but at some point, it became suspicious. Especially once you climbed _between my legs_ ,” she said pointedly, poking him in the shoulder as she did. “You keep acting like you're trying to fall asleep, but you haven’t yet and that only makes it more suspicious.”

“What could I possibly gain from whatever you think I'm actually doing?”

“I have no bloody clue.”

“Care to share what you think I'm doing?”

“Not particularly.”

“Ah. Is it naughty? Is that why?”

Rose gasped. “Doctor.”

“It makes sense you don’t want to share if you think I'm up to no good. If you’re wrong, you might risk feeling stupid and vulnerable again and we both know how that turned out last time.”

“I knew it,” Rose groaned. “You’re not gonna let that go, are you? Does it really bother you that much?”

“I mean, there is no reason it should, now is there? You yourself have said as much many times since I came in here.”

“After announcing you snogged a French courtesan and tried to fight with me about it for some reason.”

“Does it bother you?”

“That you snogged a random woman you’d only known less than a day?”

“Yep.”

“There is no reason it should, now is there?” she parroted back to him. He looked up from her cleavage, keeping his chin on her body, and gave her a look. “Oh, was that an annoying thing to ask? I had no idea.”

“You were never this mean or prickly with my last self.”

“Yeah, well, your past you rubbed off on me.”

“I deny that in every single way you could interpret your statement.”

Despite her slight vexation, she snickered and the Doctor smiled crookedly at her. He bit his lip to smother his amusement a bit and she shook her head, eyes closed a moment.

“It’s like a bug bite,” she finally said. “You scratch it because it itches, but then you try to ignore it so it doesn’t itch even more, and then you’re right back to scratching, which makes it worse. Stop scratching the bug bite, Doctor.”

An itch you can't scratch. Rose ignored the itch in the back of her brain again and watched the Doctor’s smile slowly gentling and then fading away altogether, his gaze dropping from her eyes to her lips.

“I’ve never been very good about not scratching an itch once I realize it’s there.”

It occurred to her that perhaps she wasn’t the only one who was sad about them not being together. She knew he had a good reason not to pursue anything with her and she understood where he was coming from, had even accepted it without much argument, but maybe the thing with Mickey had hurt him a little all the same despite knowing they couldn’t and shouldn’t be together. Just like Reinette had hurt her, too. He hadn’t known about Mickey before, but maybe he’d noticed how she kept turning to Mickey when she got sad and he’d been hurt by that, by her not turning to him like she always had.

Frowning, looking at his gloomy expression, everything that had happened since he came into the library finally made sense to her and that upset her. Rose cupped his cheek and he leaned into her touch, his eyes meeting hers.

“I'm sorry.”

She meant that, too. She wouldn’t apologize for sleeping with someone else because she didn’t deserve to feel guilty about it, but she could apologize that it had hurt him and that they would never be able to have the relationship she knew they both wanted.

“I'm sorry, too.”

She was sure his apology had been as layered as her own. She could see it in his eyes and the set to his lips when he tried and failed to smile at her. The Doctor covered her hand and kept her in place holding his cheek. He simply stared at her while Rose stroked his cheekbone with her thumb.

“You should take your nap.”

He nodded slowly. “Will you stay?”

“Of course. I'm still your best friend and how good would I be if I wasn't willing to sacrifice myself so you could have a comfy place to sleep?"

The Doctor finally let go of her hand so she could place it back on his shoulder, focused on her clavicle, and huffed out a small chuckle.

"When you state it like that, it makes me think you haven't been putting your best effort into our friendship until now. I always sleep alone. Mean, Rose. Very mean."

"You don't sleep all that often and not for long at all. Suppose for the good of our friendship, I'll have to keep sacrificing myself at naptime. Best I can do, I guess."

He met her gaze and though he looked a bit sad for a moment, he smiled.

"Settling for the second-best option, you and me." Frowning, feeling sad again herself, she nodded. "You _are_ my best friend, Rose. Best one I've got."

"So are you."

"I wish..."

"I know. Me, too."

He nodded and leaned forward to press a lingering kiss to a spot right below the hollow of her throat. She combed through his hair as he did, felt him bite his lip, and closed her eyes when he kissed her again.

A third kiss was placed directly below the other two and Rose blindly traced the shell of his ear down to his jaw and then onward to his chin. He tipped his head and rubbed the tip of his nose on the pad of her finger.

A fourth kiss, featherlight and slightly open mouthed, was placed right between her breasts, his nose just barely brushing her sternum. She arched a brow, wondering what he was doing. She almost opened her eyes, but his sweet kisses were making her feel content and a bit drowsy and she couldn’t make herself.

A fifth lingered below the band of her bra, gentle hands sliding under her lower back and lifting her ever so slightly to his mouth. When he let her back down, he sighed quietly, sounding happy, and she felt him shifting around.

She smiled a little and waited for him to get comfy. Whatever had prompted that, she had no idea, but she wasn’t upset. It felt like a nice farewell to what could have been if things had been different for them.

A sixth kiss was pressed to her lips and the Doctor’s hand moved from her cheek to the back of her head, pulling her up from the couch. Rose’s eyes briefly opened as his parted lips again caught hers, but then his tongue was slowly dragging along her lip and she couldn’t keep them open anymore. Burying her hands in the Doctor’s hair, Rose parted her lips and after his tongue lightly flicked her top lip, she felt him smile.

She leaned up further for another kiss, but the Doctor stayed just out of reach, his breath hot on her mouth and his parted lips teasing hers with barely there brushes that would have tickled if she could focus on that. When Rose felt the Doctor’s hand slowly skimming up her thigh, she arched up and managed to catch part of his mouth. A hot breath warmed her cheek and then the Doctor was kissing her, suckling on her bottom lip for a moment before releasing it.

Before he could pull back from her, she licked at his top lip and felt his lips part further. They simply breathed each other in for a long moment before slowly, almost hesitantly, his tongue brushed against her lips, the tip caressing her upper lip before continuing on to her bottom lip. The hand kneading her thigh gripped her hip and Rose finally brushed the tip of the Doctor’s tongue with hers. A sigh of longing escaping him, the Doctor massaged and playfully flicked her tongue with his own while she scratched at his scalp, drawing a quiet sound of appreciation from deep within his chest.

Soon, he lowered her back down onto the couch and Rose felt the cushions dip as he slid closer to her body and moved his hand from her hip. Opening her eyes, she saw the Doctor’s arm over her, his hand gripping the armrest tightly, and then she met his gaze. His eyes were darker, half-lidded and there was a healthy flush to his cheeks. It was a good look on him.

He simply stared down at her for what seemed like an eternity and minutely shook his head at whatever thought came to him.

"Rose, I wish..."

"I do, too, Doctor."

His brows quirked down and his free hand rubbed her shoulder. When she reached up to place her hand on his abdomen, his tummy dipped under her touch and he tilted his head down to watch her stroke the button under her palm. Eyes once more moving to hers, the Doctor placed his free hand on hers, slipped his fingers between hers, and squeezed. Rose wanted to bring their hands close so she could kiss the back of his hand or possibly his wrist, but he started dragging their clasped hands up his chest and settled them over his hearts. If she tried hard enough, she could imagine his heartsbeat under her hand.

"You promised me your forever."

“I did.” Rose sighed and a touch sadly added, “Wish I could have yours, too.”

“Oh, Rose,” the Doctor chuckled, a mirthless smile on his lips. “You will. Just because someone leaves your life – lives – doesn’t mean you forget. I know I don’t. I never will. You’ll be here.”

Perhaps to drive his point home, the Doctor pressed their hands into his chest.

“That’s so sad but so sweet. I'm sorry. It must be hard.”

His brows arched as he nodded a bit. She started brushing his hair back, hoping he would understand she was trying to comfort him in some way, and the Doctor’s left arm tensed as he leaned down and held himself up by his grip on the armrest. He put their clasped hands beside her shoulder and coaxed her into another kiss, this one drawn out and intoxicating.

When she absolutely needed air, she turned her head to break the kiss and the Doctor leaned his forehead against hers. As she panted, she opened her eyes so she could watch herself trail her free hand down his neck, over his shoulder, and along his arm to his wrist, which she circled with her fingers. Body tensing as he shifted, the Doctor lifted his hand from the armrest, grasped her hand, and then resumed his hold on the couch by using their handhold to keep himself from falling onto her.

“Hard isn’t the word for it,” he breathed into the side of her neck, which he then kissed. Another preceded him saying, “It’ll hurt no matter what I do.”

“I wish there was a way to make it easier for you,” she murmured, tilting her head and feeling the Doctor’s lips behind her ear. “’s not fair.”

“Hardly seems it. Get a long life and have to spend it mourning those you’ve loved and lost.” The Doctor paused and sighed while he ran the tip of his nose along her jawline. He continued in a quieter voice, “at least humans have a shorter time to deal with their losses. I envy you sometimes.”

“I don’t see how. Sure, there’s that and it’s awful, but you get a long life to go explore the universe and save people. Plus, you’re not weak like us and you have that brain of yours.”

She looked at his forehead and almost missed the smile he gave her.

“Always looking on the bright side, huh? Rose Tyler.”

“That’s me. Ooh, also, you have the TARDIS. If you were human, you wouldn’t and that’s just…”

“Tragic.”

“Right.”

Her eyes had nearly crossed by the time he pulled up from another kiss. She tasted him on her tongue and felt the phantom sensation on her cheek where his bristly scruff had rubbed at her skin. Rose stroked his cheek with her fingertips, her hand still clasped in the Doctor’s.

“I'm so sorry, Rose.”

“It’s fine. Was just a bit prickly.”

“That’s not why I was apologizing.” His sad frown became more of a worried frown and he looked at the skin around her mouth. “Although, maybe. Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she chuckled. “Silly man.”

“Ah, good.” The Doctor sighed deeply and sat up on his knees. He kept their hands linked together and stared down at her long enough that she started feeling drowsy again. A yawn escaped her the same time he said, “I have a list of things I need to start on as soon as possible.”

“That’s a bit random. Where did that come from?”

“I was thinking about you. I need to start teaching you how to man the TARDIS and work the computer. I need to install a few more programs exclusively for your use if something happens to me or I need you to transmit data somewhere, either to myself or a different location. I need to show you how to change over the language controls to English because even if you were interested in learning my language, I'm sorry, but you will never get it so I won't even try. Really, the list goes on quite a bit.”

Rose smiled and squeezed his hands. “That’s very cute, but you needed a nap, remember? You haven’t been keeping me in here just to have a nice snog. You said you wanted a nap.”

“I do,” he said, looking at her longingly. “It’s been a while and a clear head would help, but I have too much to work on. I should hold off a bit longer. I can maybe-”

“Doctor,” she interrupted. “Quit putting it off. You get distracted and make human-y mistakes when you go without sleep for too long.”

“Human-y?”

“You're the one who said that first. Remember? It was right after Justicia. You were in the control room and said-”

The Doctor chuckled, “yes, I remember. I tried blaming you for quite a few things that trip, you very politely tore me a new one, and I settled for blaming some human-y mistakes I might have made on my lack of sleep.”

“Like when you commented on how much I weighed?”

Rose arched a brow and the Doctor’s chuckle returned.

“Was that on Justicia, though?” Her brow went higher and he snorted. “Well, whatever. I didn’t say anything about your weight per se. I merely said I had forgotten how much you weighed and bear in mind I had just caught you.”

“Does that sound better to you?”

“Not really, no. In my defense, I was very rude in that body. Sometimes. Okay, most of the time.”

“That isn’t much of an excuse.”

“Have I never apologized for that? No, clearly I haven’t if your expression is anything to go by. Sorry.”

She snorted. “Yeah, that felt legitimate.”

“That didn’t even happen this lifetime. Hard to really build up an appropriate amount of remorse for a good apology.”

“Right.” Rose rolled her eyes and one corner of her mouth curled. “I let it go. I know I look great. You were just being a prat.”

“Mm, I was being something and you do.”

She blushed. “Thank you. Are you planning to sleep in here?”

“That depends. Are you planning to go anywhere?”

“I vaguely recall saying I was sacrificing myself so you have somewhere comfy to nap, but if you changed your mind or something, I can go.”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

Rose nodded and the Doctor eyed the right side of her body. Rather, the space between it and the couch.

“Do you want to lie next to me instead? Probably be more comfortable that way. Unless, I mean, you do have a bedroom, right?” He looked at her and Rose shrugged. “I just thought a bed would be more comfortable than a couch. I didn’t think about how that would come out. Pretend I didn’t say anything.”

The Doctor eyed the sofa cushion below her bum for a moment, looked up at her with an odd expression, and his brows rose.

“It would be more comfortable. Would you mind?”

“In your bed, you mean?” He nodded, that same look on his face, and Rose nodded herself. “Sure. You might actually fall asleep finally. You gonna get up?”

His gaze drifted from her face to her waist and back before he climbed off the sofa. He let go of one of her hands but held on to the other.

"You're sure you don't mind? I can't remember being more comfortable in my - well, _this_ \- life."

"Course I don't mind."

"Good, good." The Doctor led her from the room and headed towards the sleeping quarters. "Are you comfortable in that or would you like to change into something else?"

Rose looked down at herself. If he slept a while, her denims could become uncomfortable and she might hang out a bit from her shirt no matter what because it was pretty low cut. Then again, she didn't care about her shirt and he didn't really sleep a lot, anyway, so the denims might not be an issue. She shrugged.

"I'll be fine."

"You're sure?" he pressed. "I can wait. Those denims are rather... fitted. They might bother you. A dress would be more comfortable, don't you think? Or perhaps your jimjam bottoms. No hard waistbands or anything to rub anywhere."

"Er, suppose that's true. Do you want me to change?"

"I want you to be as comfortable as I will be."

"Are you gonna change?"

"I am considering it. I feel as if I might be out for a while and I love this suit, think I look dashing and all those lovely things, but it isn't conducive to a good sleep."

"Well, alright. Suppose I will, then. If you're gonna be out for a while, might be a good idea."

The Doctor nodded. "I thought so."

Having arrived at her room, he followed her in, dropped onto the end of her bed, and picked up her stuffed animal - a bullaphan the Doctor had found on Berdoga Alpha. He'd even bought it himself, which had been and still was shocking. She gave him a fond look, not that he saw since he was intently studying the face of the animal that she'd name Leopold. He was still such a tightwad. It amused her.

Rose pulled her shirt off in one smooth move and tossed it onto the bed beside the Doctor. He briefly looked at it, snuck a peek at her, and then bowed his head. He stroked the side of Leopold while she shucked her denims. They went over the chair by her bed, the same chair her first Doctor had sat in a time or tw...enty. She actually missed storytime every once in a while. Eyeing the Doctor's profile, Rose decided to go with a cotton nightgown that fell to her knees. It wasn't very flattering, but she didn't think it'd be fair to tease him with something that showed more skin or anything knowing nothing would be able to come of it. Rose sighed. She wished... oh, did she wish. She stepped into the slippers beside the Doctor's trainers and watched him look up into her face. She smiled, held out her hand, and he immediately grabbed ahold.

"I'm done. Ready?"

"Yep." She had suspected but didn't really know that his room was directly next to hers. He led her inside, looked around, and then focused on her. "Well, this is it. What do you think?"

"It's clean. I'm honestly surprised."

"I only sleep in here. I pass most of my time in the control room when you're sleeping. Always something needing repaired. You know."

"Right, of course. Makes sense why it's so neat."

He kept looking at her and Rose looked around once more. The bed was mussed but not unmade so he'd likely only napped the last time he was in here. There were three large stacks of books on top of the table beside the chair in the corner of the room. However, there was also dust an inch thick on them. She was positive that meant they hadn't been read in at least a lifetime or two. Opposite the bed was a chest of drawers topped with a large mirror that was propped up against the wall. Scattered over the top were little bits and pieces he must've pulled from his pockets at one point. Amongst the lot, she spied a battered stick of gum, a spring that looked like it came from a broken pen, and a few strange disks. Were they coins or something else?

She noticed at least three dozen picture frames sitting on top of a long table near his reading chair and smiled when she saw herself in a few of them. Past companions and other loved ones, then, she assumed. Oh, there was K-9, too. How sweet.

At the end of the bed was a bench that had the blue version of his suit laying along the length of it with two of his favorite ties curled up on top. The black and cream versions of the white trainers on his feet were neatly lined up below. On the nightstand was a glass carafe that surely must have had water in it at some point and an upside-down cup sat next to it.

The Doctor looked curious when she finally looked over at him once more.

"So, what do you think?"

"I like it. It's very you. Bit sparser than I expected, but since you don't really spend all that much time in here, I don't know why I expected anything else."

"It's nothing like your room, I know."

"I use mine every night, though," she pointed out. "Go get changed. I'll get the bedding turned down for us."

After a glance at his bed, the Doctor turned and disappeared through a doorway into what she assumed was the wardrobe. He'd silently returned by the time she was done getting the bed ready and Rose jumped a little upon seeing him, a hand pressed to her chest. Hands loosening his tie, the Doctor chuckled.

"Are you alright?"

"You scared me. Make a noise next time."

The Doctor kept grinning and started unbuttoning his shirt. Rose made a point of looking anywhere but him as she crawled onto the bed and settled in the very middle, a position she spent a ridiculous amount of time getting perfect. From her periphery, she saw the Doctor was still wearing his undershirt, but he'd gotten his jimjam bottoms on. In the next instant, off went his shirt and his eyes met hers.

"Do you think you'll sleep or would you like a book?"

"I'll try to sleep a bit. Gotta take advantage of a sleeping Time Lord. Never know what he'll wanna do when he wakes up. My luck, you'll wanna run off for a twelve-hour adventure full of running and whatnot and I'd be bone tired by the time we got back."

"It isn't as if I _try_ to take us on adventures that require running. It just sort of happens."

"Almost anytime we step out the door."

"Yeah."

"You gonna put that shirt on?"

The Doctor's eyes narrowed and a thoughtful look crossed his face.

"I'm trying to decide if the buttons will irritate me. I don't know if you know this, but I am more sensitive than you humans. Every sensation feels magnified."

"Really?"

"Yes. A featherlight touch feels like a deliberate caress. An itchy bit of wool grates as much as steel wool."

"So, what about a punch? A soft one feel like Mohammed Ali taking a crack at ya?"

"Ah, well, no. I don't know that I can explain it correctly. It's like... Oh, how do I explain? Ehhm. Well, I can sense the power, the strength behind a touch in one part of my brain. Then in another, I feel the magnified sensation of each touch. The two feelings are both in there and - I'm not saying they're at war or I'm constantly being bombarded by two different... Uh, I can just feel both of them at the same time."

"That... sounds confusing."

"They're in different parts of my brain. It's easy to ignore if I want."

"But you don't like to do that," Rose guessed. The Doctor shrugged, a small smile on his face. "Why? Isn't it annoying?"

"It's quite pleasant at times depending upon the nature of the touch."

Rose nodded and considered that. She supposed it would be nice if every time someone touched her or kissed her, the feeling would be magnified. It made her think about their previous activities in the library. He must've really enjoyed that, then.

"I can see that," she finally said. "So... shirt, yes or no? Will it be irritating or can you ignore it?"

"Until I fall asleep perhaps. I could put my undershirt back on, but it can and will get wrinkled."

A magnificent grimace was aimed at his folded white t-shirt and Rose snickered.

"Could always get another one out. You probably have a million around here somewhere."

"But this one's already out and that's one shirt sooner to laundry day. I hate laundry day.”

“You don’t even have to do it. You just send your laundry off and it miraculously gets cleaned.”

“I still hate it. That’s time I have to spend without my favorite clothing.”

Rose gave him a look. “Does it really matter if you're dressed the entire time your laundry is off being cleaned?”

“Who says I am?” Rose looked at him in surprise and he snorted. “My suits require regular upkeep to maintain their beautiful state. I usually time my laundry with sleep, swimming, or a long soak in the tub.”

Hmm. The Doctor in a bathtub. Cute and arousing all at once. Huh.

“That’s brilliant.”

“I think so.” His sleep shirt went onto the bench at the end of his bed. “I’ll go without. Would you prefer I put my undershirt back on or…?”

Would she mind having a half-naked Time Lord in bed with her? One she could never be with, granted, but one who still wanted her just as badly. Ha. That was a hard decision to make.

“You’re fine. Come on. You need to sleep, mister.”

His brow arched. “Mister?”

“Mister alien man,” she said, grinning, and held up the bedding with her right hand. “Get in here.”

Rolling his eyes, he crawled onto the other side of the bed. When he stopped and looked at her curiously, Rose gave him a questioning look.

“I'm trying to decide how I would be most comfortable.”

“Ah. Well, I know you like using my breast as a pillow, but maybe not for hours on end.”

“Yeah, would wake up with an actual pain in the neck and I don’t mean Mickey this time.”

“Hey, you’re not allowed to pick on him just because…” She didn’t finish her statement because it occurred to her as she was saying it that it might upset the Doctor. He gave her a slightly sad smile and nibbled his bottom lip. “I'm sorry. Not for… but for bringing it up again.”

“No, you’re right, though. We aren’t…” Rubbing his brow, he looked down at the bedding a long moment. “It’s like a gut reaction. I can't… I want… but I…” He sighed. “Oh, Rose.”

He shook his head. Rose kissed his cheek, swallowed passed the lump in her throat, and turned onto her side before going still on the bed. A hand landed on her waist and gently rolled her to her back. Looking up at the Doctor, Rose continued rolling at his insistent touch until she was on her other side and facing him. With a smile on his face, the Doctor stretched out in front of her and settled his arms between them, but Rose grabbed his right hand and placed his arm over her waist.

His brow arched but he smiled again and tugged her a little closer. Her lips curling, she lifted up her shoulders just a little and tugged on his other hand until he slipped his arm underneath her neck. His smile wider, he finally hugged her close and Rose happily sighed against his neck.

“Are you in a good place now?”

“Very,” he murmured. “You’re warm and smell like soap.” A pleased hum vibrated against her ear. “I almost don’t want to sleep.”

“You’re supposed to be doing that, though.”

“Yeah, yeah. So pushy and we’re not even-” The Doctor fell silent and Rose rubbed his side. “Yes, well, you know what I meant.”

“‘s a good thing, I guess. You wouldn’t handle it well, me nagging you all the time about eating more and being less reckless and everything.”

“You already do that,” the Doctor pointed out dryly. “I can't imagine it would get worse.”

“If you’d take better care of yourself…”

The Doctor snorted. “I’ve made it this far.” Rose leaned back and stared him right in the eye, positive she didn’t have to bring up how he’d already changed on her once and she was sure his last body hadn’t been around very long. “Regeneration doesn’t count. I’ve always had a good reason.”

“And if you were human, you’d be dead several times over, I'm sure.”

“Ooh, I’d be a zombie.” The Doctor stared at her forehead and slowly grimaced. “Ew. That Christmas was awful. Do you remember the year I took you to Cardiff for Christmas? You looked beautiful in that dress.” He sighed. “Human or no, you were beautiful.”

“Mm. I could tell. And you got to meet Charles Dickens.”

“I did.” His lips curled. “That was fun.”

“Well, not all of it.”

“You’re not wrong.” The Doctor stroked his fingertips down her back, rubbed his palm over the top of her bum, and then left his hand there. “We’ll start your lessons when I wake up. We can both get us somewhere for some fun.”

Her lessons? Oh, manning the TARDIS. He really was going to do that? Smiling again, Rose tilted her head and kissed the Doctor’s Adam’s apple, feeling a breath escape him as she did.

“Thank you. It, uh.” She swallowed. “It means a lot to me that you want to teach me. More than you will ever know probably. Hope I do alright. I used to be rubbish at driving.”

“Hmm. Let’s hope you don’t crash. Hate to kick you out.”

He chuckled impishly and that only worsened when she lightly slapped his chest.

“So glad you believe in me.”

“You’re the only thing I do believe in, Rose. Now shh. This man wants to sleep and you’re being quite rude by yammering on.”

“You’ve been the one talking,” she said in disbelief. “More than me, at least.”

“Still doing it.” He sounded ridiculously amused. “Goodness, you chatterbox.”

Her slap was a little harder and his chuckle a little deeper. He kissed her forehead and she could just tell he was grinning.

“You’re so annoying.”

“Ah, yes, and you love it.” He seemed to collapse in on himself for a second, but then sucked in a deep breath and cheerfully continued, “you’re looking at your future, Rose. You’ve gotta put up with this for the rest of your life.”

“God help me.”

“Oi,” he cried indignantly and leaned back to see her. “I'm perfect, I’ll have you know. You’re looking at a great life.”

“An exasperating one, you mean,” she teased. “I might have to kick you into the vortex before all’s said and done.”

He snickered. “I’d rather you didn’t do that. It would be incredibly unpleasant, to say the least about it. Plus, Rose, it’s incredibly disrespectful to kick a man out of his own ship.”

“Well, I mean, as often as you're kicking her levers and smashing her buttons, she might help me do it.”

His snicker was more of a laugh this time and he leaned back into her body as his arms tightened around her. One hand curled up between their chests, Rose ran her other hand along the Doctor’s side, over his right shoulder blade, and onto his spine, where she then slowly trailed her fingertips all the way up to the base of his neck. When she teased the hair she found there, the Doctor lowered his hand fully onto her bum and squeezed one cheek.

Though she was surprised by his bold move and was wondering what in the world he was doing, she forced herself not to react and merely dragged her nails up higher through his hair before lightly scratching in a zigzag pattern on her way back down to his neck. A quiet puff of air was breathed onto her forehead as she looked up at him. He was smiling softly and gently massaged her bum once they made eye contact.

Rose smiled back at him and slowly, lightly drew a path with her index finger, starting right behind his ear, continuing down the side of his neck, and moving over his shoulder until coming to a stop in the middle of his chest. Her touch surely light enough to tickle, Rose ran the tips of her fingers down to his navel and then back. Sighing, the Doctor’s hand moved further down, his fingers shockingly close to dipping between her legs. On her next pass down to his body, she circled his tummy button and felt his stomach tense against her.

“I wish… Rose, I wish we…”

He bit his lip and she felt a single finger move closer to her. She looked away from his eyes, focusing on his chest.

“I know. Me, too.”

His eyes closed, she saw that from her periphery, and he exhaled a deep breath. The next time her finger trailed to his navel, she left her hand there and his eyes reopened, catching her attention.

“We’re only torturing ourselves,” the Doctor breathed. Rose smiled sadly and started moving her hand, but the Doctor leaned flush against her, trapping her hand between their bodies. “Please don’t.”

“I'm sorry. I really am. I…”

“I can't keep you here forever and not…” He swallowed and Rose felt that one finger teasing her through her nightgown. Her eyes opened wide and the Doctor directed his gaze at her shoulder. “I don’t know which would hurt worse, never knowing or… or giving in and… I’m going to lose you one day, no matter what I do.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

Bottom lip between his teeth, the Doctor leaned up and his hand, no, two fingers hooked the bottom edge of her nightgown. He watched his hand moving under the bedding and Rose shivered at the look in his eye. A shaky breath escaped him when her nightgown was level with the bottom of her bum.

“I shouldn’t,” he whispered. “But I want…”

“Me, too. Believe me, me, too.”

He breathed quickly, shallowly and stared towards his hand. She felt two knuckles brush against her and remained still until he’d done it a fourth time. Swallowing thickly, Rose slid her hand below the bedding, watching him meet her gaze as her hand closed over his. His gaze remained unwavering for a second that lasted an eternity and then she was dragging his hand further up her leg. His breathing grew deeper and his gaze fell to her lips.

Rose let go of his hand when she got to her waist. His fingers flexed and relaxed, flexed and relaxed against the dip in her waist, her nightgown bunched within his grasp. Abruptly, his hand lifted from her. Rose was fully prepared to say she understood, but then his hand was down the back of her knickers and a single finger was brushing against her but not going further.

“Oh,” she breathed. “Did you decide, then?”

The Doctor didn’t answer. He simply maintained eye contact, his breathing kicking up another notch, and she cocked her hips backward, pressing herself into his touch and feeling that finger edge ever closer. His mouth dropped open and the tip of his tongue briefly appeared in the corner of his mouth.

Moving slowly, giving her time to pull back and perhaps giving himself the same opportunity, the Doctor leaned in until his mouth was touching hers with every breath. Rose softly slid her hand up the arm he had wrapped around her back, passed over the joint of his shoulder, and cupped the back of his neck before dragging him the rest of the way into her.

Groaning, he kissed, suckled, and nibbled her lips and only slipped his tongue into her opened mouth after she licked his bottom lip a second time. Rose again rocked her hips back and felt her tummy flip when he finally slipped not one but two fingers into her entrance. He quickly withdrew and gently, mindfully caressed her clit with his wet fingers. He needed to lean up more and she had to lift her leg a bit to give him room but they finally got there.

She could feel him hardening against her other leg and was secretly relieved there was nothing alien going on there, though she would sooner die than ever admit she’d had the thought. When he realized why she was trying to move her hand from his tummy, he leaned away from her, moved his hand around to the front of her body, and looked down, mouth still opened, as if he would be able to see her touching him through the bedding.

He sucked in a sharp, quiet breath the moment she finally had him in hand. She thrilled at the way his breathing sped up with every stroke, delighted in how he matched her on her own body. The Doctor caught her lips and let out almost a whimper into her mouth after a few more minutes.

“Rose,” he gasped. “I… I want… Can we…?”

“God, yes. Do you have, er, anything I should be worried about?”

His brows furrowed. “No, nothing.”

“Nothing contagious?”

“No,” he insisted. “You?”

“No. I'm on birth control. Think that’ll be enough?”

“Should be.”

“Not so superior, then, huh?” she asked teasingly. “I always knew that was a load of bull.”

He suddenly hooked his fingers into her g-spot hard and Rose nearly came off the bed, an aborted moan directed right at his face. He chuckled, the sound low and deep, and it made her toes curl.

“Not so superior,” the Doctor finally answered. His chest started to heave and Rose stopped stroking him. He caught his breath a moment, seemed to cool down a bit, and pulled his fingers from her body. “Do you want to use anything else?”

“We don’t – Do you have anything else?”

“No, but I assumed you would if you preferred to use additional contraceptive.”

The Doctor’s eyes briefly closed and his tongue pressed to his top lip as he shifted next to her. She saw first his jimjam bottoms and then his pants get dropped at the side of the bed and bit her lip, feeling incredibly eager for them to just get to it. Clothes! Oh, she was still dressed. Rose quickly pulled off her nightgown and bra, handed both to the Doctor, who looked at them in confusion, and started working her knickers down her legs. She frowned when she really took in his expression.

“What’s with the face?”

“Why did you give these to me?”

Rose blinked and started laughing. “I have no idea.”

The Doctor snickered and tossed them onto his clothing beside the bed. Grinning, Rose snapped her knickers at him using the waistband. He caught them in one hand and blindly threw them over his shoulder; they landed in a messy heap on his nightstand.

“Top, bottom? Side? Rough? Gentle? Adventurous?”

“Interesting,” she noted as she tugged him on top of her. “Definitely gonna ask about some of that later.”

He didn’t bother responding and instead caught her lips as he settled between her legs. As he kissed her, two fingers slipped back into her body and Rose openly moaned against his mouth, nibbling the tip of his tongue just a little when he stroked her g-spot over and over again, his thumb repeatedly stroking her clitoris side to side. The Doctor pressed his lips to hers in a hard kiss, breaking her gentle hold on his tongue, and then slipped down below the bedding.

A moment later, an embarrassingly loud whimper slipped from her lips and she blindly put her hands over the Doctor’s shoulders as she rocked into his mouth. Both hands free now, the Doctor grasped her bum in a decently tight grip and lifted her pelvis up higher. Even the blanket and sheet weren’t enough to muffle the absolutely obscene noises he was making down there and Rose tossed the bedding aside so she could see him.

He immediately made eye contact with her, arched a brow, and unbelievably doubled his efforts. Nails digging into his shoulders, mouth opened wide because it was getting hard to breathe, Rose felt her orgasm building quickly after just a few short, glorious minutes and heard herself moaning louder and louder. Fumbling at the bedsheets, she pressed her shoulders and head into the bed and lifted her hips higher, her legs tightening up on either side of the Doctor’s body.

Those obscene noises and his tongue all reached a fever pitch and she buried a hand in his hair, accidentally pulling at the strands as she felt her body shatter from the inside out. Crying out hoarsely, she convulsed and ground up into his mouth, his groans, lips, and tongue heightening and drawing out her orgasm. When she let go of the Doctor’s hair, he pulled his tongue back into his mouth and looked up, the back of one hand wiping his mouth clean as he did. Honest to God, the man smirked at her.

“Alright up there?” he asked. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“I could. That was… Blimey, I'm blown away.” One half of his bottom lip between his teeth, he nodded, looking equally smug and amused. “Do you still want to…?”

“You have no idea, Rose.”

Nodding and smiling eagerly, Rose tugged at the Doctor’s arms for all of two seconds before he was crawling up and covering her body with his own, his hands clenching the pillow below her head. After a moment, he rolled to one knee and tucked a pillow below her bum before resuming his previous position. Not giving him a chance to brace himself or anything, Rose grabbed his erection and situated him right at her entrance, thrilling a little at the gasp he let out. Eyes closing and mouth opening, brows furrowed, he slowly thrust in shallowly, withdrew, and thrust back in further with a quiet sound of pleasure.

When he was fully seated, his eyes reopened and their breathing seemed extra loud as he picked up a rhythm, adding a twist of his hips on every thrust that rubbed against her clitoris. He kept switching between snogging her breathless and leaning up and to one side to see their bodies and Rose finally began pushing at his shoulders when she figured out why.

“I want to see you, too. Hold on.” Rose wiggled her pillow around a little, curling it under itself a bit, and then held out her hands until he did the same. She kissed each of his knuckles and smiled while placing his hands on her knees. “You can kiss me later if you want.”

Regardless of her words, he still leaned down and stole a soft kiss from her. Then, Thank God, he began to move.

As he rocked into her faster than he had before, his hands slowly slid down from her knees to her ankles, which he grabbed onto tightly. Following the pressure being exerted on her ankles, she spread her legs widely enough that her knees were nearly touching the bed and the Doctor’s depth increased.

Her legs tightened and her toes stretched, one hand clutched the bedsheet beside her in lieu of the man above her, the other settled between her legs, and she took her time studying and memorizing the Doctor’s body while he likely did the same. He seemed particularly interested in her jiggling breasts, the hand she had on herself, the juncture of their bodies, and her eyes.

A familiar, very welcome heaviness was settling into the pit of her belly when her head connected with the headboard. The Doctor immediately looked up from the hand she’d been massaging herself with, realized what had happened, and yanked her close while shuffling back. Upon stilling, he continued pulling at her until she was nearly in his lap and then resumed his earlier pace and depth. Rose arched her back, rested her head on the bed, and put her free hand on the headboard.

It felt so good – the position, the depth, the pace, everything about him in general – and a loud moan escaped her. She could hear the headboard lightly tapping the wall, their skin slapping, his breath nearly as loud and fast as her own, her heartbeat thundering in her ears, occasional groans and grunts from the man inside of her. It was too much for her.

Though her arm was starting to burn, Rose increased the speed of her stroking fingers and dug her heels into the bed, her body tightening and lifting. The Doctor followed her, kneeling now, and began grinding into her, focusing his attention on her back wall.

Rose shrieked, a sound she could and would be embarrassed about at a much later time, and felt her body begin to convulse, tremble, writhe, and shake. Face screwed up, she grabbed hold of the Doctor’s wrist and he stopped moving, staying pressed deeply into her body, and rubbed her shaking legs one at a time. When her hips had stopped jerking against his, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her throat.

“Are you alright?”

“Bloody great,” she breathed. “Keep going.”

Nodding, the Doctor settled her onto her back, adjusted her pillow, pulled her legs up from the bed, and braced her knees on his chest. Rose curled her feet as much as she could to wrap around his sides and smiled at him, something he returned moments before driving into her body hard enough to knock the headboard into the wall.

The longer he went, the more the bed shook and the closer he moved to her, necessitating a change in position, finally being close enough for her to wrap her legs around his bum and to nibble at the side of his neck. He groaned in response and she saw goose flesh race down his arm. Just lovely. Grabbing the headboard didn’t keep it from banging into the wall whatsoever and the Doctor eventually just gave up, choosing instead to bury his arms below her. Back arching into her hands, he groaned, grunted, and let out progressively louder cries into her shoulder the closer he got.

One hand on his delectable bum and the other in his hair, Rose simultaneously squeezed one firm cheek and pulled his hair to drag him to her mouth. His lips back on hers, his hips picked up speed and he broke away from their kiss to pant into her mouth. She could feel him tightening, see the glazed look in his eyes when he could actually manage to open them for longer than a few seconds, and felt his hands scrabbling at her back.

His desperation was palpable and delicious.

With a final cry, one smothered by her jaw, the Doctor's wildly jerking hips slowed as he released into her, rocking in and out of her at a slower pace, his mouth once more pressing to hers and their tongues twining together. Rose tightly held him until he finally stilled, still buried deeply inside her body. He pulled away from her lips and out of her body, tucked his head into the crook of her shoulder, and relaxed completely with a small sigh.

As the seconds dragged on, Rose frowned and rubbed his back, hoping he wasn’t about to say everything that just happened was a mistake. Perhaps he was waiting for her to speak.

That was roundabouts the time a snore slipped from his lips and Rose giggled quietly to herself. He’d fallen asleep. How funny. How… human.

Carefully, so as not to wake him, she rolled them to their sides and gently pushed until he was laying on his back. After one last kiss, she covered them with his blanket, curled against him, settled her head onto his shoulder, and closed her eyes.

She was asleep shortly thereafter.


	2. Bonus - The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I wasn't done with the naughtiness. Whoops. 
> 
> Poor Mickey.

Three things occurred to her when she woke up the next day.

One, she was wearing her nightgown but not her knickers and felt the Doctor’s jimjam bottoms on her ankle and shin so he must have been awake long enough to somewhat redress them. Two, he was holding her to him snugly with one arm and was running his free hand up and down her back, both of which seemed like good signs. Three, she still didn’t know how he was going to react to what happened between them earlier.

Rose opened her eyes and looked up. The Doctor was already looking at her and gave her a small smile when their eyes met.

“Hey,” she said a bit throatily. She cleared her throat and tried again. “How long was I out?”

“At least four hours longer than me so about… six hours.”

“Ah. You sleep well?”

“I did. Did you?”

“Yeah.”

“I'm glad to hear it.”

“Yeah, you, um, you fell asleep and you _did_ want me to be in here so I didn’t leave. After, I mean. Now that you’re awake, I guess I should probably go.”

“Rose, I'm not going to kick you out of my bed.” The Doctor snickered airily. “You can stop acting awkward.”

She smiled again. “Good. I was sort of worried you might think what happened was…”

“A mistake?” he asked. “Don’t know, but I wouldn’t change anything. Still haven't decided which would hurt worse.” He looked away from her. “Suppose only time will tell.”

“Will that be happening again, then?”

His gaze was back on hers. “If you’ll have me, yes, I would like for it to.” Rose nodded and he cocked his head, searching her features for something. “In the interest of being completely clear, I meant beyond physical intimacy, Rose.”

“Oh, you meant everything, not just the shagging.”

“I did.”

She relaxed. “Okay, good. I really thought if you were even interested in that, I meant in, um, being with me, it’d take forever for us to get to the point where we’d talk about it.”

“Ridiculous,” he murmured to himself and shook his head. “I only have so many years left with you, Rose. I don’t want to waste them.”

His expression fell and Rose reached up to cup his cheek. The corners of his lips curled, she smiled at him, and they curled further.

“I'm sorry. I wish I could help somehow.”

“Nah, don’t be. It’s easy to ignore it right now.” He squeezed his arm around her to make his point and Rose rubbed his cheek, her smile widening a little. “You being here with me is help enough.”

“Good thing I’ll be around for years and years to come, then.”

The Doctor remained silent for a time and Rose glanced up to see if he’d fallen asleep again. He hadn’t, though. He was merely looking at her back, but he did smile when he caught her looking.

“Just thinking.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“As soon as we bathe, I need to start teaching you how to man the TARDIS.” Rose smiled happily and he tugged her close to kiss her forehead. “I'm keeping you for life. Odds are you’re gonna need to know how to operate her every now and then.”

“Well, if you’re keeping me for life, I might as well. Be the best thing I can do when I get too old to keep up with you, anyway. Gotta be useful somehow.”

“There’s always something you can do. I’ll even accept you sitting around on the jumpseat complaining about kids these days as useful.”

“How would that be useful to anyone?”

“Be useful to the guy who’s older than you and knows a thing or two about those annoying kids these days. I’ll have someone to complain with instead of ignoring it like I do now so I look young enough to be around you without looking like a pervert.”

Rose chuckled. “Right.”

“I mean it. That’d be useful. Could get my complaints off my chest.” Rose gave him a look and he smiled crookedly “Just you wait. That’s going to happen. We’ll be complaining all the time.”

“Shut up,” she said fondly. “If you were gonna complain, you’d just do it. You’re good at that when you want to be.”

“Hush. Better example – following me around and nagging me to eat would also be useful.”

“Suppose it would. It’s easy to do, too, because you like to wait until your tummy’s hurting and then you get grumpy until we find something to eat.”

“There. That could be your job. You could make sure I eat so I don’t get grumpy. Bad things happen when a man with a time ship gets grumpy. Fallen civilizations, burning cities, that sort of thing. Your job could be to make sure I eat, thereby saving the rest of the universe.”

“You’re being dramatic. You get grumpy when you’re hungry. You don’t go on rampages.”

“I could. I’ll be older then. It might happen. You’d be doing the universe a favor by curbing my tendencies to skip meals.”

“Doctor.”

“All I'm saying is there will always be something you can do around here, Rose.”

“Doctor.”

“Listen to me. Please. You’re always going to be useful, even if all you do in forty or fifty years is something seemingly inane like nagging me to eat.”

“Doctor.”

“No, I'm not getting worked up. I just want to make sure you never doubt how helpful and important and supportive and-”

“Are you sure you’re not getting worked up?”

“Yes, I am. I want you to know there’s a reason I pushed so hard to keep you for the rest of your life, Rose. I wouldn’t do that with anyone. You are brilliant, kind, selfless, and hundreds of other wonderful things. Simply being my closest friend is helpful in itself. You could do that.”

“I'm not going anywhere. Remember? I told you I'm staying.”

“I know you did and I moved on from that. Now I'm worried you might one day think you’re – that you’re useless, because you can’t run anymore or there’s too much grey in your hair or – or you notice a wrinkle. This is me reminding you how useful you will always be. To me. To the world. I mean to the universe.”

Rose gave him a look. “You’re starting to get tripped up on your words again.”

“No, I'm not.”

“Yes, you are. You’re worrying about something that’s decades away from _maybe_ happening. That’s just silly.”

The Doctor paused and looked at her.

“You kissed me last time to stop me freaking out. Your own words.”

Rose grinned a little. “Suppose I did. Should I again? Think that’d help?”

“I _was_ worrying heavily about something you thought was silly.”

“You were,” Rose agreed. “Will one kiss be enough, do you think?”

“To start perhaps. I think you should feel out the situation and do whatever you think is best. I will leave it to you to decide when it’s been enough.”

“Good idea. I’ll stop when I think you’ve had enough.”

He nodded seriously. Her grin widened and she leaned up, her lips brushing his as she adjusted her body against his side. He dragged her onto him properly, lightly pressed his lips to hers, and cradled the back of her head all while she was making herself comfortable on his tummy. She’d not quite considered the whole lack of knickers thing until she tugged her nightgown free from where it’d gotten caught and twisted under one thigh. Then, of course, she felt his bare skin and that patch of hair leading into his jimjams.

She decided to ignore it for now. The Doctor seemed happy with merely snogging, going so far as to let out a happy sounding sigh every once in a while. His hands moved to her hips and she buried her own in his thick hair, something she now knew he loved. Her motivation for that action might not have been so innocent.

Right around the time she noticed the Doctor starting to harden and brush against her bum, he broke their kiss and breathed against her jaw a moment. It was a moment she spent lightly tugging his hair and pressing herself against him.

“You’re quite wet, Rose,” he murmured. “I can feel that on my belly.”

“Yeah? Hadn’t noticed.” She gave her hips a little wiggle and had a brief, inappropriate thought about that patch of hair of his. “You still freaking out?”

He dutifully replied, “you’ll always be useful, Rose. Don’t ever think you won’t be.”

She really did try not to smile. Either she was successful or the Doctor was pretending not to notice.

“Suppose I’m not done, then.”

“I believe that was up to you. You are, after all, the one who knows the best course of action to take when I’m having a moment.”

Okay, she chuckled at that. It _was_ funny.

“Well, then. I think I know exactly what I should do.”

Rose freed him from his pyjama bottoms and glanced at him to see his reaction. He in turn merely gave her a serene smile and she grinned. He was completely inside of her a second later – no exaggeration – and _that_ earned her a good reaction. He blinked at her, looking incredibly startled, and she giggled.

“Blimey,” he finally got out. “Didn’t even see that happening until it was done. Would’ve been enough to distract any man, Rose.”

“Hey, it worked. Look at that.” She grinned. “I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

“I would be the exact opposite of devastated if you did.”

She snickered. “Right.”

As she began to move atop him, he gripped her hips once more, but that didn’t last long. A warm hand settled on one of her breasts and the other moved between her legs.

By the time she was nearly there, she could tell the Doctor was hanging on by a thread. A fraying thread. She grabbed the hand between her legs, placed it on her other breast, and covered his other hand with hers. Giving both hands a squeeze, keeping him in place, Rose sped up the rocking of her hips and decided she’d worry about herself after.

He broke free a moment later, replaced her hand on her breast, and began stroking her clitoris at a blistering pace. His other hand was rubbing her nipple and grasping her breast and Rose threw her head back and just enjoyed the sensations.

Maybe he wanted her to go with him this time. He seemed to be fighting himself, which made her think she was right. Well. If that was what he wanted…

She quickly rocked her hips just right, aiding in the stimulation on her body, and she caught sight of the Doctor biting his bottom lip hard enough to turn the flesh white. His breathing was erratic and the movement of his fingers had reached an almighty, ferocious frenzy. A whine soon escaped him.

“I can’t. Rose, I can’t.”

“It’s okay. Go.”

The Doctor moved his hand from her breast, grabbed her hip with a fierce grip, and jerked into her half a dozen times before his eyes clenched shut, a pained groan escaped him, and he pressed into her deeply as he finally started to release. The hand he had between her legs resumed stroking her even while he was in the midst of his orgasm.

As her own climax hit her, her body trying its best to shake and shiver apart, she cried out and rocked frantically back and forth. She was still quivering and enjoying the pulses of pleasure moving through her body when the Doctor wrapped his arms around her back and dragged her down for a breathtaking kiss.

Once he pulled away to let her breathe, Rose relaxed against him and pressed a kiss to his neck, tasting salt on her lips. The Doctor shivered in response and she smiled. They laid there in a comfortable silence for a while, just until her heartrate and breathing slowed, and then the Doctor let out a heartfelt sigh.

“We should get up. We both need to shower and Mickey is likely very concerned about your whereabouts by now.”

“You’re not gonna act weird with him, are you?”

“Because of your vulnerable moment?”

“That, too, yeah.”

“I don’t have a right to be. You thought I didn’t want to be with you for an admittedly logical if incorrect reason. We _weren't_ together.”

“Right.”

He sighed. “I’ll try my best not to act weird, but I am very good at doing things I shouldn’t do.”

“Case in point?” she asked, lifting a hand to blindly point at herself. The Doctor snorted and she grinned. “Was I wrong?”

“Rose,” he muttered. There was a smile in his voice. “I don't think I’ll ever decide if this is the wrong or right thing. Though since I want it so badly, I'm sure it's wrong.”

“How do you figure? You’re a better man than you think you are, Doctor.”

“I'm certainly glad I have you fooled.” Rose rolled her eyes and sat up, but the Doctor grabbed her hand before she could completely climb off his lap. “Wait. Would you like to share a shower with me?”

Rose smiled. “Of course.”

***

“Hey,” Mickey greeted. “Want any of this?”

He held up the box of pastries in front of him and Rose and the Doctor shared a look.

“I don’t know about the Doctor, but I’d love one. They’re really good.”

Nodding, he shoved over the box and Rose began to grab one but froze when Mickey began to speak.

“So you guys know I heard you all the way down the hall last night, right? I could hear that headboard from underneath my pillow.”

“Oh, my God,” Rose whispered while the Doctor did his best to swallow back a laugh.

“All I’m gonna say is it’s about time.” Mickey washed down his pastry with tea. “It was getting pretty awkward around here.”

“And this won’t be an issue with you?” the Doctor checked. “I’ve already assured Rose I will try not to act weird about anything that happened in the relatively recent past.”

“Not that Mickey or I did anything wrong,” Rose put in. “And he knows that.”

“Right.”

“Yeah, whatever makes you happy, Rose. Maybe consider investing in soundproofing, though, so I can sleep from now on. Jesus.”

Rose blushed and the Doctor finally laughed.

“Will do, Mickey boy.”


End file.
